SACRE received a report from Mrs J Cecil on
Multi-faith events held at Holmer C.E. Primary School and
Whitecross High School and considered outline proposals for future
events.
The Chairman welcomed Mrs J Cecil, Headteacher
at Holmer C.E. Primary School and commented that the first
multi-faith event had been held immediately following the 2007
floods.
Mrs Cecil commented that pupils in
Herefordshire had little contact with other faiths and schools had
a duty to address the issue of community cohesion. Therefore, other
than taking pupils on visits e.g. to specific religious sites in
Birmingham, a local event involving a range of faiths had seemed
the most effective way of addressing this issue. This had also
helped in making the teaching real to the pupils.
She reported that teachers had attended a
pre-event training session on how to prepare the pupils for the
event. Prior to the event starting pupils had been given time to be
calm and receptive to the event and informed about what would
happen.
Approximately 800 pupils, accompanied by
teachers, had now attended events both at Holmer Primary School and
at Whitecross High School. Based on the
pupils photo story boards created at the events, she showed a
number Photostory presentations made by
pupils to illustrate elements of the event workshops.
She reported that to date funding had come
mainly from grants from a range of sources and from small
contributions from participating schools in the case of the
Whitecross transition project. The
Herefordshire Multifaith Development
Group have submitted a funding bid to
the Community Development Foundation Faiths in Action fund and a
response was expected in April 09.
While attendance had been good there were
quite a number of schools, mainly towards the boundaries of the
County, that hadn’t attended due to the travelling times
involved and this could be addressed by holding events at other
schools around the County.
On debating the subject the following
principal comments were noted:
§
Now that the events were becoming established SACRE considered it
was essential that the momentum was maintained and that they should
be made accessible throughout the County.
§
Based on the events so far the cost of running an event, excluding
transport which is payable by schools, was £22 per pupil.
§
A suggestion was made that the Sylvia Short Charity could be
approached by schools for financial support towards transportation
costs.
§
While a grant application had been made that, if awarded, would go
towards funding events in 2010/11, no funding had so far been
identified for 2009/10.
§
If the Herefordshire Multi-faith Development Group were able to
secure £12,000 this would enable the Group to provide 8 days
of Multi-faith events in the academic year 2009/10. This would reach a further 640 pupils and 35
teachers.
§
In view of the large increase in housing expected in the County in
the coming years the point was made that the opportunity should be
taken now to be proactive and teach pupils about the value of
diversity and equality in a cohesive community.
§
It was suggested that, as representatives of the community,
Herefordshire Councillors, together with town and parish
councillors, should attend a similar multi-faith event.
SACRE were strongly of the opinion that these
events provided value for money and, in view of
Herefordshire’s outlying proximity to multi faith
communities, provided this younger generation with an understanding
and appreciation of multi-faith issues contributing to the longer
term community cohesion of the County.
RESOLVED: That
a)
SACRE strongly recommends to the local authority that
adequate funding be found to enable further multi-faith events to
be held during the 2009/10 academic year.
b)
SACRE strongly recommends that the local authority
considers facilitating a similar multi-faith event for
Herefordshire and town and parish Councillors;
c)
The Chairman of SACRE write to the Leader of the
Council in support of a) and b) above; and
d)
SACRE be kept informed of progress regarding a) and b)
above by way of regular briefing notes.